Minardi

Minardi was an automobile racing team and constructor founded in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following of fans. In 2001, to save the team from folding, Minardi sold it to Australian businessman Paul Stoddart, who ran the team for five years before selling it on to Red Bull in 2005 who renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso.

During its time in F1, the team scored a total of 38 championship points. 16 earned by the team's first driver, Pierluigi Martini. Martini also recorded the team's only front row start: 2nd at the 1990 United States Grand Prix and led a lap during a heroic performance in the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix. The team never achieved a podium finish, only managing three 4th place finishes: Martini twice in 1991 and Christian Fittipaldi in 1993.

Before Minardi's demise, it was a particularly well-liked team within Formula One circles for many reasons. In the paddock, the team was noted for friendliness, accessibility, and lack of corporate culture (universally regarded as having the best espresso in F1). On the track, their cars were regarded by many as well-designed for their tiny budget (in comparison to front-runners such as Ferrari and McLaren), their low position recognised as a result of a lack of funds (and engine power) rather than a poor car. They also resisted employing pay-drivers more than most other financially strapped teams, producing an impressive alumni, most notably double World Champion Fernando Alonso. Former Minardi drivers who have gone on to win Grands Prix include Alessandro Nannini, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber while Alex Zanardi went on to win two Champ Car titles, and both Justin Wilson and Christian Fittipaldi have won races in premier North American open-wheel competition.

History

The Minardi family has a longstanding involvement in motorsport. The family has run a Fiat dealership since 1927. Giovanni Minardi competed in his own cars in the late 1940s and after his death his son Giancarlo took over the racing part of the family business. He ran customer cars in Formula Two under various names from 1972 to 1979 — even briefly running a customer Formula One Ferrari 312T as Scuderia Everest in 1976 — before gaining financial backing from well known Italian motor racing patron Piero Mancini in 1979 to set up the Minardi racing team as a constructor.^[1]

Racing History

Formula Two (1980–1984)

The Minardi team first competed under that name in the 1980 European Formula Two championship. Rather than using a customer chassis, the team commissioned a BMW powered design from Giacomo Caliri's FLY studios — previously responsible for the Fittipaldi Automotive team's F5A Formula One car.^[2] Giancarlo led the Minardi team to four moderately successful Formula Two seasons with a variety of young Italian and South American drivers, including Alessandro Nannini and Johnny Cecotto. The team's most notable result was a 1981 win at the Misano round by Michele Alboreto.^[1] Minardi left the lower division at the end of 1984, although in 1986 a modified version of their final Formula Two car, the 283, was entered without success in two rounds of the Formula 3000 championship which had replaced Formula Two in 1985.^[3]

Minardi Formula One (1985–1993)

During 1984, Minardi took the decision to enter Formula One the following year. Caliri designed the team's prototype Formula One car (intended as a dual purpose design for the new Formula 3000) around Alfa Romeo's V8 turbocharged engine but when engineer Carlo Chiti left Alfa Romeo to found Motori Moderni, Minardi became the only customer for his new V6 engine design. The engine was not ready for the start of the 1985 season, so the team converted their M185 chassis to accept a Cosworth DFV engine for the first two races. The single car team was unsuccessful in its first year, scoring no points. The new engine was underpowered and driver Pierluigi Martini finished only two races, although he was also classified 11th at the German Grand Prix despite stopping with engine problems.^[4] Martini was a classified finisher in three races, with a best position of 8th, albeit last, in the 1985 Australian Grand Prix, behind Huub Rothengatter in an Osella.

Nonetheless, the team expanded to two cars for the 1986 season. There was little success initially competing with Motori Moderni until 1988 and then Cosworth engines, when Nigel Cowperthwaite joined the team, brought in by team manager Jaime Manca Graziadei. The team picked up in competitiveness and by 1989 had become top entrant for Pirelli's return to Formula One. The team were moderately successful in the midfield through the late 1980s and early 1990s, giving a succession of Italian drivers their first chance at the top level, including Alessandro Nannini, Pierluigi Martini and Gianni Morbidelli. Martini in particular was synonymous with Minardi, eventually having three spells with the team. He drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the 1988 United States Grand Prix, although he had been running 5th for quite a long time during the race until being passed by Tyrrell's Jonathan Palmer, took their only front-row start at 1990 USA Grand Prix (aided by special Pirelli tyres; several of their other drivers had surprise qualifying results that day), their only lap leading a race in the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, where he finished 5th, and scored their joint-best F1 result of 4th. But also Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi achieved a fourth place in the 1993 South African Grand Prix. Those 4th places Martini and Minardi had together were in the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix and 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix.

Minardi, Scuderia Italia and Fondmetal (1994–2000)

Through the mid-1990s the team was the nucleus around which the community of Italian Formula One constructors collapsed. It was the first team in modern times to make use of customer engines from Ferrari in 1991 and in 1992 they used Lamborghini V12s. As the number of small teams shrank, Minardi slipped from the mid-field towards the back of the grid. Money woes hit and in 1994 Minardi joined his team with BMS Scuderia Italia in an effort to survive. Giancarlo retained 14.5% with the remaining 85.5% distributed between the Scuderia Italia investors (Emilio Gnutti, Giuseppe Lucchini and Vittorio Palazzani) and Defendente Marniga. The Minardi team was then controlled by Flavio Briatore. In 1996 Italian businessman Gabriele Rumi, former owner of the Fondmetal team switched his sponsorship support from Tyrrell to Minardi. He gradually increased his interest in the Faenza outfit, becoming co-owner and chairman. For the 2000 season the team were forced to use 1998-spec Ford Zetec-R V10 engines, which were rebadged as Fondmetal engines in deference to his financial input. However, Rumi had contracted cancer, and was forced to withdraw his backing at the end of the season.

Points were rare during this time; between 1994 and 2000 Minardi scored just seven points. Martini scored four of them, finishing 5th at both the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix and 1994 French Grand Prix. Michele Alboreto scored his last point in Formula 1 with a 6th place in the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix. Pedro Lamy scored his one and only point in Formula 1 with a 6th place in the 1995 Australian Grand Prix; this result was followed by a long barren spell until Marc Gené finished 6th in the 1999 European Grand Prix. That same race, Luca Badoer had been running fourth until his gearbox failed, at which point the Italian famously burst into tears next to his stricken car. Significantly, if Eddie Irvine, who placed 7th at that race, had been able to pass Gené, he could have won that year's World Championship by a point. Other Minardi drivers also came close to scoring points, including Shinji Nakano who finished 7th at the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix.

European Minardi (2001–2005)

The team, near collapse, was purchased by Australian businessman Paul Stoddart in early 2001, merging it with his European Racing Formula 3000 team. During its final years, the Minardi team was almost as famous for its politics as its racing. Stoddart was described as the Formula One teams' unofficial shop steward. During his time as team principal, Stoddart campaigned for reduced costs in the sport. He appealed to the competing car manufacturers for an agreement where the independent (and, on the whole, financially weaker) teams in Formula One would get cheaper engine deals than at present. In return, the team principals who would benefit from this would support the works teams when it came to opposing new rule changes enforced by the FIA, such as the proposed ban on traction control.

Before the start of the 2004 season, he threatened to withdraw his support against the ban on traction control, but later withdrew this threat. Before the 2005 Australian Grand Prix Stoddart initially threatened to withdraw his cars if they were made to comply with the revised regulations for 2005. Stoddart claimed that Minardi could not afford to adapt their cars. Once again Stoddart ended up withdrawing his threat. Stoddart has also repeatedly called for the resignation of the FIA's President, Max Mosley, particularly in the aftermath of the 2005 United States Grand Prix where the majority of teams withdrew from the race due to safety concerns about their Michelin tyres. While Minardi had run Bridgestone tyres, Stoddart had offered to compromise with the Michelin teams but Mosley had rejected it.

One of Minardi's most famous performances came at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. It was Australian driver Mark Webber's first Formula One race. At his and Stoddart's home grand prix he brought the car home in fifth place to score two World Championship points — a rare occurrence for Minardi.

Minardi was represented in 2004 by two rookies, Italian Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner. During the year, they celebrated their 20th season in F1. Baumgartner scored Minardi's first point in more than 2 years at the United States Grand Prix, finishing 8th (only 8 cars finished the 2004 USGP). Baumgartner was also the first Hungarian to score a point in a World Championship F1 race.

In 2005, Minardi's drivers were Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher. They amassed a comparatively astronomical total of 7 points following the debacle of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, in which they finished fifth and sixth (of six runners) respectively. After his sponsors stopped paying him before the 2005 German Grand Prix, Patrick Friesacher was to be replaced by Dutch Jordan test driver Robert Doornbos to create the first ever all-Dutch driver line-up in Formula One history.

Heads of Minardi F1

• Owners
  • 1985–2000 Giancarlo Minardi
    • 1996 Flavio Briatore — co-owner
    • 1996–2000 Gabriele Rumi — co-owner
  • 2001–2005 Paul Stoddart
• Technical Directors
  • 1985–1988 Giacomo Caliri
  • 1989–1995 Aldo Costa
  • 1996–1998 Gabriele Tredozi
  • 1999–2000 Gustav Brunner
  • 2001–2005 Gabriele Tredozi
• Commercial / Marketing Directors
  • 2001–2004 Andy Bendell

Red Bull purchase

Paul Stoddart stated that he would sell Minardi if he could find the right buyer. Stoddart claimed that he had 41 approaches.^[5] His criterion for a sale was the ability of a buyer to move the team forward and leave the team based in Faenza. The drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which already owned another Formula One team, Red Bull Racing, decided to set up a second team to promote American drivers that have risen through its young driver programme, Red Bull Driver Search.

Ending several weeks of speculation on 10 September 2005 Red Bull announced it would take control of Minardi in November and run it as their "rookie team" from 2006.^[6]

Minardi fans worldwide immediately started an online petition^[7] to save the Minardi team name and the team's 20-year heritage in F1 after the news broke. The petition was not successful and the team was renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2006 season. The greatly increased funding from Red Bull, including the use of the Red Bull chassis and Ferrari engines, gradually led to improved results, culminating in Toro Rosso's maiden win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

Racing return for Minardi

Giancarlo Minardi and Paul Stoddart have both made use of the Minardi name in new motorsport ventures.

On 1 January 2006, Giancarlo Minardi re-acquired certain rights to use the Minardi name in racing. He also announced that he was licencing the Minardi name to established team GP Racing in the junior Euro Formula 3000 series, to be entitled 'Minardi Team by GP Racing'.^[8] The team raced with moderate success, scoring a podium in each leg of the Spa round in June 2006.^[9] For 2007, Minardi Team by GP Racing combined forces with GP2 team Piquet Sports, to form Minardi Piquet Sports.^[10] For 2008 the team was known simply as Piquet Sports.

In 2006, Paul Stoddart declared his intention to enter a new team called 'European Minardi F1 Team Ltd' into Formula One beginning in 2008. His application was unsuccessful, with the 12th place on the grid being awarded to Prodrive.^[11] Instead, Stoddart turned his attentions to the U.S. based Champ Car series. On 18 December 2006, it was confirmed that he had purchased a controlling interest in the CTE Racing-HVM Champ Car team and that the team would be renamed Minardi Team USA.^[12] In 2007, the team had reasonable success. Robert Doornbos took two wins and several podium places on his way to third in the series, winning Rookie of the Year honours. When the series folded before its planned 2008 season, Stoddart's involvement ceased, with the team entering the Indycar Series under the HVM name.

Stoddart retains the right to use the Minardi name for a British-registered company.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

See also

• List of Formula One constructors

References

Further reading

• Vigar, Simon (2008). Forza Minardi!. Veloce Publishing. ISBN 1845841603. 

External links

• Minardi Sito Ufficale
• Minardi's F1 history Chequered Flag Motorsport
• Formula Two championship results
• Officially Sanctioned Minardi Fan Club in San Francisco
• Minardi F1 Chassis Design Case History NEI Software